


The Compass Leads To You

by DoomedTemperament



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28625622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomedTemperament/pseuds/DoomedTemperament
Summary: Hope's Peak District of Sorcery was practically the living dream for younger magic experts to make a living in its infinitely-changing whirlwind of activity. It was a bustling area, full of excitement and potential.So where did Hajime Hinata, a twenty-year-old boy who could barely make a few crackles and sparks with his fingers, fit into it?!(A modern-day magical AU where Hajime meets his true love, a cursed pyromancer, and an antagonistic bookstore employee... who all happen to be the same person.)
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	The Compass Leads To You

**Author's Note:**

> This is like... the third time I've tried uploading this fic. The two times before, it was under a different name, wasn't quite as well developed, and had a somewhat different atmosphere. But I've got a better idea than I had before, and I'm going to attempt to make it work now.
> 
> Rating probably won't change, but chapter count might.

_The hospital walls were an unnervingly sterile eggshell white, only interrupted by the occasional faint blue glow of healing runes carefully etched into them. Hajime had been staring at them for so long that he had memorized the patterns of when the glows would fade in and out, to the point where it was almost headache-inducing to look at— but it was at least easier than staring at the frail figure of his best friend lying on the bed. He knew he should have been able to look her in the eye as she spoke to him, but knowing that she would most likely be gone in a matter of months, weeks, maybe even days… wouldn’t it be easier to stop looking at her now? That way he’d be ready when she finally—_

_“Hajime…”_

_Shit._

_“Hey Chiaki,” Hajime ripped his gaze away from the walls, and forced himself to observe the only other person in the room with him. “I didn’t realize you were awake… sorry I wasn’t making conversation.”_

_Chiaki, though startlingly fragile now, still managed to wear a gentle smile, framed by the soft pastel-pink strands of hair that had started to grow almost too long. If Chiaki was well, she would have gotten a haircut long before now, complaining about how her fringe would block her eyes as she played videogames. If Chiaki was well…_

_“Hey, hey.” Her voice snapped Hajime out of his thoughts, “Are you worrying about me again?”_

_Hajime swallowed thickly, and forced a smile._

_“Just wondering how long it’s been since you last touched your GameBoy. You look like you’ve been deprived of Galaga.”_

_“Hajime.”_

_Chiaki’s voice was sterner now, her cheeks lightly puffed._

_“You’re acting like I’m already dead.”_

_Hajime looked away again. The walls pulsed brightly, ignorantly as ever._

_“I...” He eventually choked out, “It’s just. Not fair, you know? You shouldn’t have to be spending your time in this place. You should be having fun, eating ice cream in the shade outside, or blowing money at the arcade or… or anything but this. And I hate that I can’t do anything to give you back what’s being stolen.”_

_“You haven’t said anything I haven’t already come to terms with,” Chiaki said, chastising. “I’m just happy remembering the fun I was lucky enough to have beforehand.”_

_Hajime glanced back at her._

_“Is it weird that you’re the one comforting me and not the other way around?”_

_“Hajime, when has our friendship ever not been weird?” Chiaki countered, her smile returning._

_Hajime laughed wetly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right… It kinda fits, doesn’t it? I can barely do parlor tricks, and somehow I ended up being best friends with one of the greatest metalmancers in the country.” He ruffled Chiaki’s hair despite her slight pout. Still too long. After a pause, he added, “I still don’t get why you left the District. You always made it sound way cooler than this little city.”_

_“Because I was more interested in learning about what we can do with our resources instead of just with magic,” Chiaki said, and yawned. “Sure, flying on broomsticks is cool and all, but you can travel so much faster on an airplane… and it’s nowhere near as draining.”_

_“You make my mundane life seem way more adventurous,” Hajime sighed, not entirely unhappily._

_Chiaki shifted her position as much as the bed would let her, and gestured to her backpack, which lay innocuously on the floor beside one of the plastic chairs. Hajime wondered how it even got there, since it certainly wasn’t there the last time he had visited._

_“I had my mom bring it over,” Chiaki practically answered his thoughts. “You should take a look inside.”_

_Hajime raised an eyebrow, and stood up to grab the pink, cat-shaped bag that had so often been carried around carelessly. After opening the drawstring, he put his hand inside the fabric, his fingers brushing against something circular and metallic. Intrigued, he took out the item, revealing it to be a shining, almost crystalline compass with a bright gold needle in the center._

_“Is this… for me?” Hajime asked warily._

_Chiaki smiled and nodded. “I put most of my remaining magic into the runes on it.”_

_“Chiaki, that’s dangerous!” Hajime gaped at her._

_“Relax. I’m still here, aren’t I?”_

_Hajime had no better way to respond._

_“Anyway,” Chiaki continued, glancing away, “I call it the ‘Compass of Destiny’. If you follow the needle, it should take you to what you need most in life. It’ll follow the rhythm of your heart and mind… even I don’t know where it will take you. But…” She faced Hajime once more, “I want you to go out and have an adventure, too. For both of us.”_

_There was no point in stifling the tears that spilled down Hajime’s cheeks. Chiaki rarely saw him cry, since he tended to react more with quiet aggression than loud waterworks, but this was one of the only times— Perhaps even the last time— he’d felt comfortable enough to show his full vulnerability to her. All he could even think to say was a litany of “Thank You”s as he pulled her into a hug, an awkward position since he leaned over the side of the bed, but worth every second._

_Five minutes from then, a nurse would arrive and inform Hajime that visiting hours were over._

_Five hours from then, Chiaki would breathe her last breath._

_Five days from then, Hajime would begin to follow the pull of the compass needle._

* * *

“What the actual hell am I doing here?!”

Hajime barely resisted the urge to yell in disbelief, instead hissing the words to himself like one might pretend to whisper, if they were really, really bad at pretending.

There was no denying the sight in front of him, nor the sight of the needle pointing straight ahead. Hajime had been following the mostly-stagnant lead of the compass for the last day and a half, armed only with his travel documents, the compass, and a duffel bag of modern necessities. He hadn’t been checking the map app on his old Nokia phone too often, almost certain that the directions couldn’t really be leading him to where he was currently standing. But the truth was, quite literally, standing right in front of him in big block letters.

_**WELCOME TO HOPE’S PEAK DISTRICT OF SORCERY!  
Tourist entry and evaluation station up ahead.** _

Hajime stared at the large, colorful sign that greeted him as he stepped away from the station platform. The compass had led him forward up until the railway announcer had noted that the next stop was approaching, and as the carriage had slowed down, the compass had taken a sharp turn toward the opening doors, nearly forcing Hajime off of his seat as he scrambled to exit.

True, he had always wanted to go to the District; It was the most densely-populated aggregation of magical power in the continent, if not the world, and there were boundless magical sights within its miniature city-like structure. It was practically the living dream for younger magic experts to make a living in its infinitely-changing whirlwind of activity. It was a bustling area, full of excitement and potential.

So where did Hajime Hinata, a twenty-year-old boy who could barely make a few crackles and sparks with his fingers, fit into it?!

Hajime swore under his breath as he numbly stepped up the stairs to the upper platform, already preparing his travel documents to present. There to greet him was a young man, surely no more than a year or two away from his own age, with a pristine white uniform making his jet-black hair and sharp red eyes even more outstanding.

“Welcome! Please present your papers here. May I take your name?”

Hajime held out his documents and ID.

“Hajime Hinata.”

The other man (‘Kiyotaka’, his nametag read, and Hajime swore he’d heard that name mentioned before) swiped his fingers across the documents, an air of dignity somehow exuding from him as he determined the documents’ validity, and returned them to Hajime. That air of dignity was shortly whisked away when he spotted the compass in Hajime’s hand, and nearly had a fit.

“Good lord, man! Do you have _any_ idea how much magical energy is radiating out of that metal contraption?!”

Hajime blinked, and glanced at the compass.

“Uh. No?”

Kiyotaka then pulled out a two-way radio from a drawer at the station desk, and hurriedly spoke into the receiver.

“Mondo! I need you over at the evaluation station pronto! We’ve got a potential issue of highly unstable magical contraband!”

Hajime began to panic as he heard a static-y grumble from the speaker, and without thinking, shouted, “Wait! I can explain!”

“You can?” Kiyotaka responded suddenly, and frowned. “You have thirty seconds.”

It took several moments for Hajime to register that he’d been allowed to continue, but as soon as his brain caught up, words began spilling from his mouth.

“This is a gift from a friend of mine, Chiaki Nanami? She was invited to be a metalmancer here in the district, but she didn’t stay, and she just recently… she recently passed away, and this was a gift she gave me before she died. It’s a compass that’s supposed to lead me to my destiny, or something, she said she put magic into it but I didn’t even know it was going to take me here!”

Kiyotaka stared blankly at Hajime for a moment, awkwardly poised.

“Oh. Um, my condolences.”

“What the hell kind of ruckus is going on now?” The apparent backup that Kiyotaka had called strolled over, though his demeanor (and his halfhearted attempt to manage a uniform, along with his ridiculous pompadour) made him seem much less professional. Still, he was huge and more than a little intimidating, and Hajime didn’t think he was off the hook just yet. He watched anxiously as Kiyotaka explained the situation to the other, who nodded along and made a few half-hearted hums. Eventually, he leveled a glance at Hajime, and scoffed.

“This guy’s got the scent of someone who can barely control their own magic, let alone someone else’s. Lemme see the thing.”

More than a little pissed off at the sentiment, Hajime reluctantly handed over the compass. Kiyotaka fussed with his sleeves as the other inspected the compass and sighed.

“Whatever this thing is supposed to do, it’s not gonna harm anyone. I don’t feel any dangerous vibes from it, and it’s definitely the work of someone who did shit with metal, so it sounds like his story’s straight. Unless you wanna waste time looking through the obituaries, I say let the poor guy go.”

“Mondo! Despite your less-than-stellar use of certain vocabulary, I’m excited to see that you’ve taken this matter seriously!” Kiyotaka practically beamed as the other (Mondo, apparently) handed Hajime the compass without complaint.

“I mean, if it’s important to you,” Mondo muttered, pointedly looking away, and Kiyotaka ushered him away with a quick “Sorry for the trouble, Hajime! Enjoy your day!”

Hajime blinked, and looked back down at the compass. The needle had taken another turn, pointing toward the station’s exit.

He had a feeling he was going to be in for a very, _very_ long day.

* * *

It was a wonder that Hajime had been able to navigate through the heavily-occupied area without too much trouble; It probably didn’t help that his duffel bag made him look a bit suspicious, and it definitely didn’t help that he had no goddamned idea where he was going. He weaved across scattered crowds of passers-by, seeming every bit like an unfortunate tourist as he clamped down on the urge to “ooh” and “ahh” at the sheer difference in environment.

While his home city was about as typical and technically modern as any other, the Hope’s Peak District of Sorcery was an amalgamation of different sceneries; Some areas he passed by looked as though they were being reclaimed by the earth, large trees and vines and foliage weaving through solid blue stone buildings still teeming with life and energy; Some areas he passed by looked as though they were something straight out of a Christmas movie, with classical storefronts and brick buildings and cheerful hoots and hollers; Some areas even looked like they could have been set in a futuristic landscape, buildings with smooth curves and a plethora of gadgets peeking out of every window.

And somehow, Hajime still hadn’t found… whatever it was that he was apparently looking for.

The needle of the compass sharply turned to the left.

Hajime groaned.

As he continued down the path, encountering fewer (though still a sizeable amount of) people as time went on, he found himself lost in thought. In the hours that he’d been walking and watching (and man were his feet killing him), he’d occasionally look at the compass and wonder. He fully trusted Chiaki’s magical abilities, not to mention he could barely trust his own, but she had to have known, somehow, that he’d end up in the District, wouldn’t she? Or maybe…

His thoughts were interrupted as he accidentally walked into a lightpost.

Blinking away the stars from his vision, he tactfully looked around the lightpost marking the street corner ( _Usami Avenue and Jabberwock Lane,_ he mentally noted) to the shop behind it.

It was a fairly small multi-level building, a gray brick storefront with a small display of old-looking posters and a few modest book stands presented on the other side of the floor-to-wall windows. The outside of the upper floor also had a small balcony-esque protrusion in the center, though most of the windows of it were covered. The inside of the lower floor, from what Hajime could see, was full of shelves, with a clear path to a desk covered in posters and flyers and standees. A quick glance at the wide, green canopy above the door revealed that it was an antique bookstore. Hajime huffed a light laugh as he pocketed his compass, vaguely amused at how out-of-place the building seemed compared to the variety of restaurants and thrift stores and businesses surrounding it.

Maybe it made sense that the compass would lead him to such an odd place.

After checking the business hours posted on the door (it was open for another three and a half hours), Hajime carefully stepped inside, the quiet ringing of a bell signalling his entry.

“Just a minute!” Came a voice from a small back-room behind the desk.

Hajime took a moment to look around the interior; There was a small stairway that had no right to look as rickety as it did leading to a loft with a few other shelves and a small wooden coffee table, and yet another stairwell which led to the second floor. A glance at one of the shelves had a poster advertising the acquisition of a newly-released book by one of the most celebrated fiction authors of the time, and one display had a selection of fancy-looking postcards. The only thing that might have indicated that the bookstore had anything to do with magic was the fact that the images on the postcards were moving.

“Those are our latest shipment of moving postcards! Can you believe they were drawn by Angie Yonaga herself? She’s practically a miracle worker with ink-based magic.”

Hajime startled slightly as the voice from before crept up behind him to speak. Carefully, he turned around, coming almost uncomfortably close with seaglass-green eyes that stared at him with interest.

“Ah, sorry. Personal space,” The owner of the voice said somewhat bashfully, and stepped back. A more thorough look revealed the stranger to be another man Hajime could assume to be his age— Wild, fluffy hair that almost made a gradient from white to a pale brown, a green and red patched jacket that hung loosely on his frame, a low-cut white t-shirt with a strange symbol on it in red ink, dark jeans with some weird skull keychain, and a pair of the dumbest shoes Hajime had ever seen on someone.

He shouldn’t have looked charming, a stray thought said, but Hajime found him to be anyway.

“So…” Hajime started, “Uh. Are you the owner of this place?”

The stranger looked startled for a moment, and barked out a shaky laugh; “Me? God, no, not at all, this place would somehow burn to the ground if I was in charge.” A pause, and then, “Speaking of, this place is highly protected against fire and water magic. Gotta keep the books safe, you know?”

_Even if it wasn’t, that wouldn’t be a problem for me anyway,_ Hajime thought bitterly.

“So, what can I do for you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, and getting new customers is kind of rare these days,” The stranger asked with a smile.

“Oh,” Hajime said, trying not to look as awkward as he felt, “I’m here for… well, actually I don’t know why I’m here.”

“You don’t know why you’re here?” The stranger tilted his head.

“It’s kind of a weird story,” Hajime grimaced. “What’s your name? Maybe you can help me figure something out.”

“Oh, I’m Nagito Komaeda. What’s yours?”

Nagito leaned in slightly, disregarding his own correction of personal space.

“Hajime. Hajime Hinata. I’m not a townie, which is why you haven’t seen me before.”

Nagito raised an eyebrow, interested.

“So then, what brings you here?”

Hajime bit his lower lip, and carefully pulled out the compass.

“This thing. A… a close friend of mine made it for me, and she said it’d lead me to what I need most. I don’t really know what that is, so I was hoping that if I followed it, I’d find an answer. This is where I ended up.”

“Interesting,” Nagito said, examining the compass from a calculated distance. “The sides of it are jam-packed with all kinds of runes… I recognize most of them, but there are a few I can’t quite make out. May I…” He paused, and glanced away, “May I take a closer look?”

Hajime hesitated, and nodded as he held out the compass. Nagito gingerly took it from him, shifting it around and looking at it from all angles. When he turned it over to look at the back, his eyebrows shot up, and he whistled.

“This is some strong magic. These etchings usually take so much essence out of someone, it could kill them if not done properly. Your friend must have been very exhausted after making this.”

Hajime grimaced.

“Do you happen to know Chiaki Nanami?”

Nagito returned the compass, and nodded. “She was a metalworker who was personally scouted by the District’s general assembly to help advance integration of magic and technology. I remember one of my friends talked about her, and was really surprised when she left after only a few months. I wonder how she’s doing.”

Hajime’s grimace deepened.

“She’s dead.”

Nagito made a choked sound, and looked down gloomily, silently returning the compass. “Oh, I’m… I’m sorry to hear that. I take it she was the one who made you that?”

“Yeah,” Hajime said quietly, “She was my best friend.”

Nagito stared at the floor for a few more moments, but perked up shortly afterward. “Well, any friend of Chiaki’s has to be a good person, so feel free to look around here. I’ll help you find what you’re looking for in any way that I can!”

Hajime let a slow smile return to his face… which immediately dropped when he took another look at the compass.

The needle was spinning wildly in all directions, almost to the point of looking like it was broken.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to be doing this.”

Nagito stared at the needle with wide eyes, before letting out an ungodly wheeze as he wrapped his arms around his waist, almost as if he was hugging himself.

“Oh.. oh, this is all my fault… I shouldn’t have been so impudent to have taken it, oh… Oh, no…”

“Nagito, what’s going on?” Hajime questioned, fear churning in the depths of his stomach.

Nagito avoided eye contact as he shook nervously; “The chain, it’s… it’s supposed to be a ward, you know? A way to stave off my curse, and it was working so well, I should have known it was going to fall apart soon… Wait!” His gaze suddenly snapped up to meet Hajime’s, an almost wild look in his eyes. “I might know someone who can fix this, but we’ll have to hurry before he closes up shop. Follow me!”

Before Hajime could get further explanation, Nagito took off, only looking back to motion for Hajime to follow him.

Despite his better judgment, Hajime did.

* * *

After several minutes of running (which turned into intense power-walking), Nagito stopped at the front of what looked to be a combination jewelry store and mechanic’s workshop. Warily, Hajime stepped inside the area shortly after Nagito, and was greeted by a gust of almost-too-warm air.

“Hey, Kazuichi!” Nagito called out, cupping his mouth with his hands, “We’ve got an emergency!”

A grumble, and then a figure popped out… from underneath the storefront desk.

“Yeah, yeah, you say that every time. I was tinkering with… wait, who’s this?”

The man currently sizing Hajime up probably had no right to do so; He had scraggly pink hair covered by a black beanie, a yellow jumpsuit covered in all sorts of badges, and the grimace he leveled Hajime with made him look like he had shark teeth.

“This is Hajime. He brought in a compass made by a metalmancer friend of his, and… it happened again,” Nagito said, as if it explained everything— and by the way Kazuichi sighed, maybe it did.

“Let me see what I can do.” He glanced at Hajime, who handed over the compass, and nearly sputtered the moment it touched his hands; “Holy shit! Yeah, okay, I definitely gotta take a closer look at this. Whoever made this thing must’ve been a powerful metalmancer…” He suddenly sniffed, and looked away, “...Not as powerful as me, though. Probably.”

Hajime furrowed his brows, and looked between Kazuichi and the compass. “How long do you think it will take?”

Kazuichi shrugged, way too casually for Hajime’s comfort, and set the compass on the table. “Could be a few days. The compass is practically loaded with all sorts of magic, so I might have to reverse-engineer some of the smaller protective seals on it. I’ll keep it as intact as I can though, and it won’t affect the appearance of the compass, if that’s a concern.”

Hajime pursed his lips in thought. “How much will it cost?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nagito said sincerely, “I’ll cover the costs. It was almost definitely my fault that this happened, so it’s the least I can do.”

Both Hajime and Kazuichi turned to look at Nagito then. Kazuichi seemed to snap out of his shock first, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, and adding, “Works for me. Who should I text when it’s done?”

Hajime pulled out his Nokia and handed it over to Kazuichi to punch in his number.

“Geez,” Kazuichi idly remarked, “Why are you using this crusty old thing?”

“I tried getting a better phone several times, but they just keep dying on me,” Hajime said, and Kazuichi raised an eyebrow.

“You work with metal too or something?”

Hajime squirmed slightly, uncomfortable. “No, my whole family’s made of fire workers, as far as I know.”

“Huh,” Kazuichi said, shrugging again, “Interesting. Well, I’ll text you when the compass is ready. It should be done comparatively quickly, but I hope you’re staying for a while.”

Nagito glanced at Hajime then, the silent question evident— _are you staying for a while?_

Hajime gulped.

“Yeah, I’ll be here.”

“Good!”

With that affirmation, Kazuichi quickly shooed the two out of the shop.

As Hajime and Nagito made their way back to the antique bookshop (Hajime made another mental note to add the address to his phone notes so he could return later), the two chattered, and Hajime tried to pry more information out of Nagito. The process was almost startlingly easy.

“So… what exactly happened? It feels like you’ve accidentally broken things a lot,” Hajime asked bluntly, making Nagito chuckle in embarrassment.

“Well… I told you about the skull chain on my pants, right? It’s a ward. I was cursed when I was too young to remember… I’ve always been like this. I tend to have unpredictable luck… both good and bad. It’s like a never-ending cycle, really…” His tone was somber, but he still smiled despite the gravity of his words. “I stumbled across the bookstore when I was looking for a way to reverse the effects. One of my coworkers helped me find a book with a counter-spell, though it wasn’t powerful enough to negate the effects completely, even with the enchanted charm— Er, Kazuichi made it for me, if that wasn’t clear. I was so grateful to her that I offered my service in any way that I could, and all she wanted was for me to help look after the store with her!” He sighed, a note of happiness seeping into his voice. “She really is too kind to a lowlife like me.”

“Hey,” Hajime said, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not like you chose to have a curse.”

“Aha,” Nagito laughed quietly, and shrugged. “Enough about me, though. You said your family works with fire magic?”

Hajime grimaced. “Yeah, they do…”

“That’s incredible!” Nagito cheered, eyes practically glowing. “I work with fire too… I’d love to see what you can do!”

“Truthfully?” Hajime began, ashamed, “Not much.”

Nagito stopped in his tracks, looking at Hajime with concern. “What do you mean?”

Hajime flinched.

“I mean what I said. I’ve tried studying fire magic before, hours and hours and hours of it, and… all I can do is make a few sparks. I mean, I know a few basic defensive spells, and I’m pretty good with understanding runes, but…” He sighed, “I’m just… defective, I guess.”

Nagito was silent for several moments.

“I see. So… what you’re saying is that you’re one of the unlucky bunch who fetishizes the magic they crave?”

Without thinking, Hajime felt his hands clench into fists. He had been expecting some sort of pitying look, maybe an offer to help him try some unusual skills in a misguided attempt to make him feel better… but he hadn’t been expecting the derision that coated his words. Maybe he should have.

“I don’t fetishize anything. I’m only even here because Chiaki gave me the compass. Don’t confuse me with some sort of—”

“That’s exactly it, though,” Nagito said sharply. “If it wasn’t for Chiaki, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t have a reason to be here. This may as well be the magical hub of the nation, and unless you somehow manage to miraculously discover some amazing latent ability, you’ll be as good as hopeless.”

Hajime glared, no longer seeing Nagito as a vaguely-soothing acquaintance, but now a mass of lies underneath a cheerful front.

“For someone who called himself a lowlife a minute ago, you’re acting pretty high-and-mighty.”

Nagito scoffed. “At least I know where my place is. Do you?” Upon receiving no response, Nagito nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ll still pay for your compass, out of respect for the wishes of the dead. But try not to drag me into whatever happens next, okay?”

Without giving Hajime time to answer, Nagito turned his heel and headed back to the bookstore. Hajime merely stared at him as he walked into the distance, until he couldn’t see the white-haired boy anymore. He swore loudly, hoping to high hell that he’d be able to find a motel that was cheap enough not to put a permanent dent in his pocket.

_Some adventure._

* * *

The next morning, Hajime woke up in an unfamiliar and barely-simple-enough-for-his-budget bed, awoken by the sound of heavy rain. A look at the bedside clock revealed it was just past ten in the morning, not too late but still enough for him to get more sleep than he probably needed. He’d wasted the majority of the previous night in a daze, lost without the guiding hand of his compass and listless watching the different news and programs on the TV. For such a startlingly advanced society, they still hadn’t managed to find anything more entertaining than the usual garbage on his home stations.

He yawned and ran his fingers through his hair, and reached for his phone. Three new texts from Kazuichi (who had so helpfully placed a wrench emoji next to his contact name);

**\--Yo Hajime I figured out what the problem with your compass is**

**\--Or really it’s not a problem with the compass at all cause as soon as I started working past the first few protections it just went back to normal and idk whats up with that**

**\--So maybe this thing was just going haywire since you were hangin with Nagito or whatever so get him over to my shop and I’ll give a discount**

Having the freedom to be as loud as he wanted, Hajime groaned and let his head fall against the backboard of the bed with a loud ‘thud’.

He glanced out the window of the motel room again, watching the steady rainfall. Despite the inclement weather, there were still plenty of people he could see wandering around in the distance, some wearing umbrellas, others (clearly water-kind) who were simply shielded from the worst of its effects naturally. And, of course, Hajime hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella in his duffel bag.

Great.

Fortunately, the owner of the motel had a spare, so Hajime wasn’t left completely to his own devices, with the promise that it’d be returned by the night. As if he’d even want to stay in this place long enough, only being further reminded of what he could be, but wasn’t.

_When did I become so cynical? I just want to be someone I can be proud of… is that too much to ask?_

As he strolled down the pavements, relying on his maps app to take him to the antique book store (ha, he knew he’d benefit from remembering the streetcorner) and carefully dodging other passers-by, he felt slightly more calm. So sure, he’d had a run-in with one bad egg. Once he got his compass back, he’d be able to move on from the incident and find out where he was really supposed to be going. Nagito’s ridiculous “luck cycle” curse must have been the cause of the compass’ malfunction, and Hajime would be damned if he let someone destroy the most important relic his friend had left him. As he continued on, he felt his confidence begin to boost, to the point where it (almost) didn’t bother him that his canvas shoes were getting soaked.

Finally, he arrived at the front of the store, and braced himself for whatever (and whoever) might be inside.

He was nowhere near prepared to see Nagito making goo-goo eyes as he chatted with a man wearing the distinctive gold ‘Assembly of Magical Law’ pin on the lapel of his jacket.

So much for bracing himself.

“Really, it was nothing!” Nagito said, more cheerful than Hajime remembered, “If you ever need access to our resources again, please let me know! I’m more than happy to help.”

“Thank you! But, it really is just a gift for a friend,” The other man spoke a bit awkwardly, running his fingers through shaggy brown hair, “I can’t be on business all the time, you know?”

Nagito nodded. “Of course, of course. I hope the book is palatable to Byakuya’s refined taste!”

“I hope so too.”

Hajime cleared his throat, wanting to end the incredibly uncomfortable-to-watch exchange, and glanced at Nagito. Nagito, in turn, looked back at him, and the glint in his eye disappeared.

“Oh, Hajime. Welcome back.”

“Thanks,” Hajime returned, his tone dry. “Kazuichi has the compass ready, if you’ll lead me back there.”

Suddenly, the man from the Assembly perked up, and his eyes darted toward Hajime.

“Hold on a second… You wouldn’t happen to be Hajime Hinata, would you?”

Hajime gulped nervously— _How did someone in the Assembly of Magical Law know him by name?!_

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Without prompting, the man grinned, and quickly strode over to him.

“Great! It’s good to get to meet you! ...Uh, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself yet, did I?” He paused, and sheepishly added, “I’m Makoto Naegi. I was told you were a friend of Chiaki Nanami, right?”

“Yes…?” Hajime said, and for once, Nagito looked as confused as he did.

“I was one of the members of the Assembly of Magical Law who had personally contacted her about coming to the district a while ago. One of my coworkers, Chihiro, was her mentor until she left. We, um. We heard the news…” Makoto looked away in a moment of sobriety, but bounced back to normalcy easily enough. “But we’d also heard from one of the travel checkpoints that one of her friends had arrived at the district with a “potentially threatening” item personally made by her that resembled a compass. Of course, I don’t believe she would have any malicious intent with it.” He warmly looked at Hinata then, a sincere and friendly smile on his face, “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind letting me take a picture of it? I think she was one of Chihiro’s personal favorite proteges, and it would be nice to have a reminder of her… Um, you’re welcome to say no, of course! It’s kind of a weird request, after all…”

Hajime blinked once, twice, trying to process what Makoto had rambled about.

“That’s… fine? I don’t have it with me right now, but Nagito and I were just about to go get it.”

_Speaking of Nagito…_

Hajime looked to the white-haired boy behind the desk. His brows were furrowed, making an ugly sort of crease, and his mouth was twisted into some sort of weird grimace, as if he was trying to smile while dealing with an exceptionally disgusting bug. Maybe, Hajime assumed, he thought he was doing just that.

“Ah, I had almost forgotten. Let’s go, then. Sonia will be able to look over the store for me in our absence.”

* * *

The walk to the workshop was more than a little stilted, though whether or not Makoto was blissfully unaware of the tension between Hajime and Nagito was a mystery. The rain had settled down to an occasional sprinkling, and Hajime, for his part, was more than happy to just let Makoto make the occasional comment or observation, if only to let himself actually hear a friendly voice. The trip took a considerably longer time, since the trio weren’t running to their destination. At least it gave Hajime a few moments to consider his surroundings, which filled him with an odd bittersweet feeling. He really was out of place, but the area was beautiful enough that he could almost ignore the fact. Almost.

As they entered the workshop one by one, Hajime was briefly grateful that Makoto was the first to step inside, covering him from the blast of insane heat that was somehow worse than the previous day. Inside, Kazuichi was grumbling as he touchlessly welded a set of wires and metal plating into… the shape of a bouquet?

Makoto whistled, apparently impressed.

...Which caused Kazuichi to lose focus and nearly turn the bouquet into a mess of molten sludge.

“H-hey! Warn a guy before you walk in on him!” Kazuichi groused slightly, crumpling the slowly-cooling metal into a ball of scraps and discarding it carelessly into what Hajime hoped was a fireproof bin.

Nagito approached Kazuichi to talk about paying for the compass’ “repair”, with Makoto following shortly after with his cellphone primed and ready to take a snapshot of the item. Meanwhile, Hajime’s eyes drifted toward the bin of discarded metal. Carefully, he sidestepped over to the mechanical section of the workshop and peered inside the bin, then reached his hand forward.

_If I can just try to tap into some of that heat…_

Without a second to reflect on how stupid and poorly-planned his idea was, the metal began to warp and crack, until finally, it started vibrating, faster… faster…

**BZZZZZT!**

With a bright shower of sparks, the metal collapsed dully, singed in various places and nearly making Hajime’s hair stand on-end.

It took him several moments to realize that the incessant sound ringing through his ears was Kazuichi’s voice, practically screeching.

“What the fuck! What the actual fuck! We could’ve died if that bin wasn’t magically protected, man!” 

Hajime glanced in horror to where the other three were staring at him, stunned; Makoto, looking horribly alarmed; Nagito, looking wide-eyed and owlish, and Kazuichi, who was pulling his beanie down as if to protect himself.

“Wha… what were you just trying to do?” Nagito snapped him out of his observations, fearful awe in his voice.

“I… I don’t know,” Hajime grimaced, letting his heartbeat return to a non-cardiac-arrest pace and staring at his hand. “I thought… I thought if I could try integrating my magic with the heat from the metal, I might be able to… to…” He trailed off.

Kazuichi looked like he was nearly in tears, and approached the bin, looking down at the wreckage. “I was trying to make that into a gift for Miss Sonia, and now I can’t even use the scraps...”

Nagito still stared at Hajime, as did Makoto, and for a brief moment, Hajime wondered if he’d end up getting arrested for a near case of accidental arson.

“This is… this is unbelievable!” Makoto said suddenly, his eyes going wide as he rushed over to the bin as well. “You just… you use fire magic, right?”

“...Yes?” Hajime responded, feeling somewhat lightheaded.

Makoto made a quick air capsule around the scraps, lifting them out of the bin and looking around them from every angle.

“Then did you somehow just fuse fire magic and metal magic together?!”

“I… guess?”

“That…” Nagito cut in suddenly with a choked voice, “That’s not possible, right? I don’t think there’s ever been a recorded moment in history where magical abilities were able to be merged like that!”

Hajime blinked once, twice… and felt his feet give out from underneath him.

The last thought he had before his head hit the floor was,

_“Oh, so this is what passing out from shock feels like.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/Kudos appreciated! Thank you for reading so far :D


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